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The Shorter Writings of William Booth

Edited By Andrew M Eason and Roger J. Green

William Booth (1829–1912) is remembered for the major role he played in founding the Salvation Army, an evangelical organization now operating in more than 120 countries. Few people, however, are aware of the fact that Booth was also a prolific author. During his long lifetime he wrote countless articles and speeches on a variety of topics, ranging from Christian doctrine to female ministry and missionary work. The most important of these shorter writings are presented in one volume for the first time here, along with perceptive commentary by two leading scholars of the Salvation Army.
Boundless Salvation: The Shorter Writings of William Booth convincingly demonstrates that Booth’s enormous accomplishments arose from deeply held religious convictions. It argues persuasively that his life and ministry must be understood in relation to the Methodist theology and transatlantic revivalism that inspired and guided him. By showcasing and analyzing these religious contexts, this edited collection sheds considerable light on a towering figure of the Victorian period. In the process, it offers valuable insight into the origins and development of the Salvation Army, one of the most remarkable organizations to arise during the nineteenth century.
Boundless Salvation: The Shorter Writings of William Booth will appeal to a broad readership, especially to those with an interest in religion and history.

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CHAPTER TWO

Salvation

As William and Catherine Booth’s Christian Mission evolved into the Salvation Army in the late 1870s, its theological mandate became all the more apparent to the wider world. Here was an organization framed explicitly around the central doctrine of the Bible—salvation. Here was an organization claiming rather boldly to specialize in the redemption of the entire world. There was, simply put, no room for confusion about its purpose for existence. Salvation was at the very core of the Army’s identity, as William Booth articulated so clearly several months after the Christian Mission changed its name: “We are a salvation people—this is our speciality—getting saved and keeping saved, and then getting somebody else saved, and then getting ourselves saved more and more until full salvation on earth makes the heaven within. . . .”1 Booth’s nascent Army was forged out of an optimistic and comprehensive soteriological vision, one that aimed at nothing less than the transformation of nation after nation.

While William Booth’s soteriology was profoundly hopeful, it was not naïve. There was no Salvationist affinity with the Enlightenment belief in the innate goodness of the human being. Booth shared with John Wesley a sober recognition of the human condition.2 William’s doctrine of salvation began with the belief that while humanity was created in God’s image, it had fallen from its original state of purity and happiness. Due to willful sinfulness and rebellion against God,...

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